Dirt, the unclean stuff that gets under your nails, also inspires art. “DIRT: Yuta Suelo Udongo Tè” is a group exhibition curated by artist Onajide Shabaka featuring many South Florida artists. The exhibition will be on view at the University Galleries, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus from Friday, Jan. 22 to Saturday, March 5, 2016. An opening reception will be in the Ritter Art Gallery on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

The exhibition title refers to the different ways that diverse cultures interpret dirt, not only physically, but also spiritually and symbolically. The exhibition includes site-specific installations, sculpture, photography, paintings, drawings and mixed-media works. The inspiration for this exhibition dates to 1999 when artist and curator Onajide Shabaka visited Ely, Minn. Attracted to the area’s vibrant red oxide dirt, Shabaka saw a connection between it and elements of the West African Yoruba religion, particularly the deity Orisha Oggun, the god of minerals associated with iron and industry. Shabaka’s subsequent research led to his recognition that responses to dirt vary widely across the world.

“We are excited to present this exhibition about DIRT to the South Florida community,” said Rod Faulds, director of the University Galleries at FAU. “Investigating how diverse cultures interpret this fundamental substance aligns with our mission here at the University Galleries, where we seek to understand differing points of view through art. We are also pleased to support South Florida artists, particularly Onajide Shabaka, who has long been a stalwart of the area’s art community.”

Artists in the exhibition include Dona Altemus; Robert Chambers; William Cordova; Edouard Duval Carrié; Veronica Scharf Garcia; Mark Hahn; Alette Simmons Jimenez; Kim Nicolini; Lori Nozick; David Rohn; Ralph Provisero; Yanira Collado; Debra Wilk and Jovan Karlo Villalba.

There will be a public program to complement the exhibition on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. It will include a panel discussion which will include Edward Petuch, Ph.D., FAU professor of geology, along with a series of readings by writers and poets John Dufresne, Elizabeth Jacobson and Geoffrey Philp, and the FAU creative writing team who have focused on the topic of dirt. The discussion will be organized by award-winning poet Michael Hettich. For more information and a full schedule of events, call the University Galleries at 561-297-2661 or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.

The exhibition and programs are made possible by grants from State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; Cultural Council of Palm Beach County; Beatrice Cummings Mayer and R.A. Ritter Foundation. Museum Education and AMP Programs made possible by Kaye Arts Integration Endowment and a grant from the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties.

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The Journal of West Indian Literature has been published twice-yearly by the Departments of Literatures in English of the University of the West Indies since October 1986. Edited by full-time academics, the journal originated at the same time as the first annual conference on West Indian Literature, the brainchild of Edward Baugh, Mervyn Morris and Mark McWatt. It reflects the continued commitment to provide a regional and extra-regional forum for the dissemination and discussion of anglophone Caribbean literary and artistic culture. Initially featuring contributions from scholars in the West Indies, it has become an internationally recognized peer-reviewed academic journal.

JWIL’s editorial board welcomes articles in English that are the result of scholarly research in literary textuality (fiction, prose, drama, film, theory and criticism) of the English-speaking Caribbean; comparative assessments of non-Anglophone Caribbean texts are also accepted, provided that translations into English of the relevant parts of such texts are incorporated into the submission. JWIL will also publish book reviews.

In 2011, founding editor Mark McWatt celebrated JWIL’s twenty-fifth year of publication as a regional, UWI-led Caribbeanist project invested in highlighting and critically examining the prolific literary production of the Anglophone Caribbean. McWatt observed at the time that there was talk about the journal, which printed its first volume in 1986, “becoming exclusively an on-line publication” in the interests of international recognition and access. Of course, things moved slowly when the editors were all full-time academics juggling multiple responsibilities across the three campuses of the University of the West Indies, but only four years afterward, JWIL has indeed transitioned to an online platform. http://www.jwilonline.org/ is the journal’s first website, and it will be the platform for the first online volume: the double-issue Vol. 23 Nos. 1&2, which will appear in late December 2015, and will be open access for a limited time.

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Pamela ('Pam') Mordecai’s previous collections of poetry include Journey Poem (1989); de Man, a performance poem (1995); Certifiable (2001); The True Blue of Islands (2005), and Subversive Sonnets(2012). de book of Mary, from which “Jesus Takes Leave of Mary and Goes  into the Desert” comes, will appear in fall, 2015. In 2006 she published Pink Icing, a collection of short stories; her first novel, Red Jacket, appeared in February, 2015. 

She has edited and co-edited ground-breaking anthologies of Caribbean writing including Jamaica Woman (1980, 1985, with Mervyn Morris); From Our Yard: Jamaican Poetry since Independence (1987); Her True-True Name: An Anthology of Women's Writing from the Caribbean (1989, with Betty Wilson) and Calling Cards: New Poetry from Caribbean/ Canadian Women(2005). Her play, El Numero Uno had its world premiere at the Loraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People in Toronto in 2010. In spring 2014, she was a fellow at the prestigious Yaddo artists' community in upstate New York yaddo.org. Pam and her family immigrated to Canada in 1994. She lives with her husband, Martin, in Kitchener, Ontario

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de Book of Mary is an epic poem in Jamaican Creole based on the Biblical story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The first book of a trilogy, Pamela Mordecai's 
de Book of Mary covers Mary's life from her early years, through the arrival of the Archangel Gabriel and the birth of Yeshua, to her death. 

A Chorus of male and female voices provides an accompanying commentary. This exciting Canadian-Jamaican retelling, profound and tragic, yet told with humour and gusto, is a major event, continuing Mordecai's project of hybridizing one of the most significant cultural-religious phenomena in world history. The last book of the trilogy, de Man, about the crucifixion of Jesus, was published by Sister Vision Press in 1995 and is now out of print. The poet is currently working on de book of Joseph, second book of the trilogy.


About Pamela Mordecai

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Havana and Haiti: Two Cultures, One Community
An Evening with Robert B. Reich
World’s Smallest Poetry Reading: An O, Miami Party
A Special Evening With 2015 Man Booker Prize-winner Marlon James
An Evening With Gary Snyder
Authors Congressman John Lewis, and Andrew Aydin
An Evening With the National Book Awards Winners, Finalists, and Longlisted Authors
Four 2015 National Book Award Finalists in Poetry: A Reading
True Tales of Miami Hip Hop
Voices of the Caribbean: New Poetry
Cultivating the New American Canon
On American Civil Rights: March: Book Two
Caribbean Literature: The Steel Pan of the 21st Century
American Lives: Memoirs from Literary Greats
Hair: A Cultural Exploration
It’s All Greek Heroes to Me!
Land of Upheaval: A Literary Journey Through Haiti’s Modern History
Four Poets: A Reading
City Lights Publishers at 60
In Search of Our Roots: Genealogy and the African Diaspora
Bridges to/from Cuba
New Poems: A Reading
Saved by the Sunshine State: Writers Find Themselves in Florida
Two U.S. Poets Laureate: A Reading and Conversation
Two Trailblazers in Music
Sven Birkerts in Conversation with Albert Goldbarth: Reading in a Digital Age
Short Stories, Tall Tales
Poems: Readings from New Books
American Lives: Two Memoirs

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More than 200 national and international book exhibitors and publishers, bestselling authors, artists, entertainers, and food vendors will participate in the Street Fair Weekend as part of the 32nd Miami Book Fair,  the largest and finest literary event in the U.S., presented by Miami Dade College (MDC). The Street Fair runs Friday – Sunday, Nov. 20 – 22, from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.


The Street Fair brings together all the elements of the Fair during one jam-packed weekend! In addition to the more than 200 publishers and exhibitors, there will be book presentations and readings by some of the world’s most celebrated authors and poets, representing various genres and in multiple languages. The Swamp, a pop-up lounge and stage, and The Porch, the central gathering place for the Fair, will feature round-the-clock performances, live music, poetry readings, theater, and more. In addition, there are literacy and learning activities for children/tweens/teens during Generation Genius Days and The Kitchen will offer demos and panels for food enthusiasts in partnership with the MDC’s Miami Culinary Institute. The International Food Court at the southeast corner of 3rd St. and 1st Ave. will offer a variety of treats, including shish kabobs, frozen lemonade, crepes, ice cream, and more.   
This year, the Fair will also host several celebrities, including John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez, Paul Giammatti, Jesse Eisenberg, and Kunal Nayyar, as well as hip-hop legends Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, Christopher “Fresh Kid Ice" Wong Won and FAB 5 FREDDY, among others.
Admission to the Street Fair is free Friday, Nov. 20. General admission Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 – 22, is $8; admission for those 13-18 or over 62 is $5; those 12 and under are admitted free. The Street Fair will be located on N.E. 2nd Ave. between N. 3rd St. and N. 5th St., and along adjacent side streets. The Street Fair is presented with the generous support of OHL Arellano Construction.  
"OHL-Arellano takes pride in giving back to the community by supporting the Miami Book Fair, internships, philanthropic and educational programs,” said Alicia Cuervo, Regional Director for OHL-Arellano Construction. “We believe that philanthropic endeavors are the private sectors' opportunity to look at our past for lessons and inspiration while looking forward to successful projects and events like the Miami Book Fair that enrich our community.
For a complete list of Street Fair exhibitors and activities, please visit the Miami Book Fair site and download the printable guide at www.miamibookfair.com..

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APPLICATION GUIDELINES

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Papillote Press is delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of Gone to Drift by the award-winning Jamaican writer Diana McCaulay. This young adult novel, which won second prize in the CODE’s Burt Award for Caribbean Literature (2015), will be published on 29 February 2016.

Gone to Drift tells the story of a 12-year-old Jamaican boy, Lloyd, and his search for his beloved grandfather, a fisherman who is lost at sea. An adventure story about a boy confronted with difficult moral choices it will inspire its readers to choose bravery over cowardice and to follow their hearts. 

"This is my first novel for young adults," says McCaulay, "and as reading meant so much to me as a teenager, I'm hoping Gone to Drift will be read and enjoyed by many Caribbean young people. I wanted to pay tribute to our long tradition of fishermen, and I'm so grateful the Burt Award has made that possible. I'm also thrilled that Gone to Drift will be published by Papillote Press, a Caribbean publishing house which I've long admired." 

Gone to Drift follows on from McCaulay’s two acclaimed novels, Dog-Heart (2010) and Huracan (2012) and is built on her 2012 Regional Commonwealth prize-winning short story, The Dolphin Catchers  (Granta Online). As well as writing, McCaulay founded and, for many years, ran the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET); she was also a popular newspaper columnist. 

As Pamela Mordecai, author of The Red Jacket, sa ys: "Gone to Drift  is a love story about Lloyd's deep affection for his grandfather, and about the author's deep love for Jamaica, its land and seas. A Jamaican coming-of-age story - realistic, often funny and deeply touching - it’s a story for adventurous boys and girls, and for grownups too." 

CODE's Burt Award for Caribbean Literature is an annual award given to English-language literary works for young adults (aged 12 through 18) written by Caribbean authors. Established by CODE - a Canadian NGO that has been supporting literacy and learning for over 55 years - with the generous support of the Literary Prizes Foundation and in partnership with the Bocas Lit Fest, the Award aims to provide  engaging and culturally relevant books for young people across the Caribbean.

Founded in 2011, the Bocas Lit Fest administers major literary prizes for Caribbean authors and organises the annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad and Tobago’s premier literary festival.

Papillote Press, based in Dominica and London, specialises in books about Dominica and the wider Caribbean. “I love this story. It entwines a tale of modern Jamaica with memories of the old ways of the sea. The reader follows Lloyd’s desperate search for his grandfather every step of the way.” says Polly Pattullo, publisher of Papillote Press.

For further information please contact the publisher: info@papillotepress.co.uk

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JESUS TAKES LEAVE OF MARY AND GOES INTO THE DESERT

Plenty hard to believe my son turn
thirty dis winter season just gone!
Not dat me never watch

every minute, each day, as him grow.
But is like you see and you don’t notice,
and den, all of a sudden dis big

somebody hold you face in him hand
kiss you on you forehead,
say, “Mums, I going now.”

Never mind how much time
I protest and ask why him must go
off alone to a place wid no water, no food,

not a green thing to lift him spirit...
“Mums,” him say “why I would
leave dis house, you and Gran, best cook food

in dis town, my sistren and bredren,
and de whole family, plus de woodworking, too,
all I love, if it was up to me?”

I breathe deep, gaze on him
from him head to him toe, one last time.
“See three loaf of new bread I just bake

in dat bag, and a wineskin your gran
send wid Judith daughter dis morning.
She say, send, tell her when you going.

“I going stop by de yard
as I leaving, to tell Gran goodbye.
Big thanks for de eats and de drink,

but you know my food in de wild
going be fasting and prayer, my Mums.
I sure you don’t want my Papa up so...”

and him turn him eye up to de sky,
“to vex wid me right as I start out?”
“Why you can’t pray here, son?

I will keep food and drink far from you.
I will honour your fast. Is a thing I do for
Joseph plenty times when him was still wid us.”

Him bend down and kiss me,
say, “Mums, dis not de worst.
Me must get ready for some dread things.”

When I go to answer, him put one finger on
my lip. “Hush, Mums,” him repeat,
“believe me, if de choosing was mine

I would stay.”
And him look round de room,
touch de big water jug, scuff de rug

wid him foot, take him staff
and walk through de door –
never turn him head round to look back.


From de book of Mary






About Pamela Mordecai

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Harlem, 1918

Passing him in the street, you'd never believe

that this "sawed-off hammered down black man,"

standing on a ladder so he could see above the crowd,

could lift thousands of black men, hard men, dice

men, to their feet-- that this round-faced Negro, 

who looked as if he hadn't eaten anything 

but "sardines, salmon and beans" from a can, 

and with shoes so cracked, you could lose a week's 

pay in the holes. But when he growled 

like one of those Hoodoo men from New Orleans, 

and stretched out his arms as welcoming as the mouth

of the Mississippi, he could have led us through Harlem

to the Nile, and we would have followed him past the white

men's rage when he said, "Rise up, ye, mighty people. Accomplish 

what you will," then, we rejoined, "Speak, Garvey, speak,"

and the Holy Spirit descended on the congregation.

From my forthcoming collection of poems, LETTER FROM MARCUS GARVEY

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Channer’s debut poetry collection achieves an intimate and lyric meditation on family, policing, loss, and violence, but the work is enlivened by humour, tenderness, and the rich possibilities that come from honest reflection. Combined with a capacity to offer physical landscapes with painterly sensitivity and care, a graceful mining of the nuances of Jamaican patwa and American English, and a judicious use of metaphor and similie, Providential is a work of “heartical” insight and vulnerability.

No one, since Claude McKay’s folksy Constab Ballads of 1912, has attempted to tackle the unlikely literary figure of the Jamaican policeman. Now, over a century later, drawing on his own family knowledge of the world of the police, on the complex dynamic of his relationship with his father, and framed within the humane principles of Rasta and reggae, Channer has both explored the colonial origins of that police culture and brought us up to date in necessary ways. Here are poems that manage to turn the complex relationships between a man and his father, a man and his mother, and man and his country and a man and his children, into something akin to grace. Providential does not read like a novelist’s one-off flirtation with poetry, but an accomplished overture to what ought to be a remarkable literary journey for a writer of immense talent and versatility.

“…Written with pitch-perfect rhythm and a keen eye for supple, limber turns.” —Lorna Goodison, author of From Harvey River

“Channer writes with a moving vulnerability and much lyric grace, revealing new facets to familiar themes—home, family, history, and the evolving journey of self. A universal, timeless meditation.”
—Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas

Born in Jamaica to a pharmacist and cop. Colin Channer is named by Junot Díaz calls him “one of the Caribbean Diaspora’s finest writers.”

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Rootz Foundation Inc. in association with the City of Lauderdale LakesPresent The:2015 MARCUS GARVEYROOTZ EXTRAVAGANZA & LIBERATION FILM FESTIVAL Sunday, August 16, 20154.00 p.m. – 10.00 p.m. Lauderdale Lakes Educational & Cultural Center3850 W. Oakland Park Blvd.,Lauderdale Lakes, Fl 33311  FILM SCHEDULE:Matinee Screenings
4.00 p.m. : “First Rasta” – A documentary by Helene Lee
5.15 p.m. : “COINTELPRO 101” – From the Freedom Archives
Feature Presentation6.30 p.m. : Mumia Abu Jamal Long Distance Revolutionary -A film by Stephen Vittoria Marcus Garvey Community ServiceAwardees:Dermot Hussey – Sirius/XM Radio HostAndrea Williams – “Running African” Host IRIE FM RadioWillie Stewart – Chairman of Embrace Music FoundationNorman “Humble Lion” Lawrence – WAVS Radio Personality LIVE PERFORMANCE BY:Ikus Music Recording ArtistMALEKUUSinging His Brand New Debut Release“Tears of Color”/”Lagrimas Con Color”
PLUSRas Abuna, Ras Ijah & Phil WatkisLive In Concert Go Green FashionistaROOTZ Fashion ShowHighlighting fashion of Africa, Brazil, Spain & the Caribbean MC: Yvette Marshall of WAVS 1170AM Radio Food * Refreshments * Books * Cultural ItemsOn Sale Entry Free For More Info: (Tel) 754-264-2205 (Web) www.rootzfoundation.orgFacebook: Rootz Foundation Inc

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WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Light the White House Red, Black and Green on August 13 to honor Black people "held to serve or labor" who built it.

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Set on the island of St. Christopher, Pamela Mordecai's latest book, Red Jacket, confronts the issues of prejudice and colorism in Africa and its diaspora. Growing up in a large extended black family, the protagonist, Grace Carpenter, must face the taunts of neighbourhood children and elders who are disturbed by her presence. For Grace is a redibo with copper coloured skin, red hair, and grey eyes. Adding to Grace's confusion about her place within her family and culture is her ignorance of her birth mother and the resistance of family members to reveal the identity of her father. Grace’s quest to discover her familial origins takes her on a journey away from the Caribbean to Africa and back home again.

After reading this remarkable novel, I had the pleasure of conducting this interview via email with Pam.

1. Why did you choose an imaginary island as the Caribbean setting?

I chose an imaginary island for the Caribbean setting because it gave me latitude. In answering that question – because it's been asked before – I've invoked a poem of mine in Certifiable called "Jus a Likl lovin.” There are two lines in that poem that speak of "the Mona moon heaving/ up from the sea". Kamau Brathwaite called me to account on that, since of course the Mona moon does no such thing! So I had to confess to him that I moved the moon because I needed the rhyme! I didn't want to be hamstrung by that kind of constraint.

If I made up my own island, I could write without being accountable where physical and social settings, behaviours, customs and even history are concerned. Thus, Marcus Garvey visits the imaginary St Chris, St Chris children speak 'standard' English exclusively when they are on school premises, and so on. Though I know Jamaica over fifty years well, I didn't want it to tie me down. To put it simply, I took the line of least resistance and greatest imaginative freedom.

2. Is this the same reason you chose Mabuli (the imagined West African country)?

In the case of Mabuli, the situation was the same and quite the opposite – the same because I needed the imaginative freedom with Mabuli also, the opposite because I needed it for other reasons. Where the island setting was concerned, I didn't want to be constrained by the need to be accurate in describing a real and very familiar place. Where the West African setting was concerned, I was working on the basis of research alone, for I've never been to West Africa. Though I was describing a made-up place, it's a place with a very specific location – Mali to the West, Burkina Faso to the east, Côte d'Ivoire to the south.

In order to be persuasive, I had to be accurate about climate, topography, flora and fauna, the history of the region, the weather over the period of years when the action in the novel takes place, and so on. So that there is indeed a Bandagara Escarpment in Mali, and the Tellem people did live there before the Dogon, and the Tellem were indeed reputed to fly, never mind that the specific incident in Red Jacket that explains how English got to Mabuli is imagined.

I needed to make Mabuli persuasive in those respects, but I needed my fancy licensed to advance some important aspects of the story, for instance the 'fact' of an organization such as the Oti, as well as certain, if you want, magical realist elements, like the walking stones and the weeping keystone in the Kenbara Stone Circle.

3. Why did you include Marcus Garvey in the narrative?

Many people fail to recognize what an extraordinary man Garvey was, and the breadth of his influence. It stretched far and wide, and I wanted my imaginary St Chris to be one of the places that he visited, and where he left his mark.

4. Ultimately, Red Jacket is about Grace's search for identity and one of her most steadfast allies is the priest, Father James Atule. Are you suggesting that the quest for self-awareness is also a spiritual journey?

At this point in my life, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all one: as Lauryn Hill famously said, “Everything is everything.” For a while now, I’ve avoided the word “religion” because it suggests allegiances, and these have always led to fights, but I’m not sure that I even distinguish between spiritual and physical any more. There is only the journey of the individual self trying to find its way with other selves through time, in a perhaps imagined, perhaps material, world. Grace is lucky to have James Atule S.J. join her on that journey, but not because he’s a priest – because he is who he is, a fellow pilgrim, fallible and sometimes frightened, but generous and caring deeply about his fellow human beings nonetheless. Even if she hadn’t met him, there are others who from early on show Grace (not by instruction, but also by being who they are) that the journey to self-awareness and a sense of worth as a person is not a material one.

The most important of these persons is of course, Gramps. As a child Grace observes that Gramps’s God is different and that “he and Gramps have conversations all the time.” Also, “God and Gramps are often scamps together.” Her idea of a rascally God in cahoots with her rascally grandfather is an early grasp of a person with rich self-awareness, a conviction of his unique and worthy personhood. Shortly after that, she makes this quite clear: “Gramps is special. God is smart so he would know.” We walk in quest of our specialness, but neither wealth nor importance nor fame will bestow it on us. For sure, our journey to discovering who we are is what we call “spiritual” – for lack of a fuller appreciation of the Everything-that’s-everything!

5. I was really struck by this passage: "Jesus says to love our neighbours as ourselves... He exemplified that proper self-love, daring to be who he was, the Messiah, son of God, and getting killed for it. Whenever we are rejected, we need to remember that and to remember too that he rises again and his resurrected self renews the sacred self of each of us, making us more lovable.” Would it be presumptuous to suggest that this manifesto of faith is not merely part of a text, but refers also to your life and career?

It wouldn’t be presumptuous at all.








About Pamela Mordecai

Pamela Mordecai was born in Jamaica. She has published five collections of poetry, with a sixth, de book of Mary, to appear in fall 2015. Pink Icing, an anthology of short fiction, appeared in 2006, while Red Jacket is her first novel. She has published five children’s books and her poetry for children is widely anthologized – indeed, one of her children’s poems recently appeared in The Guardian (UK) in a list of “top ten poems to remember and recite”. She has also written many textbooks and edited or co-edited groundbreaking anthologies of Caribbean writing. Her poems have been shortlisted for the Canada Writes CBC Poetry Prize and the Bridport Prize (U.K.) and her short fiction for the James Tiptree Jr Literary Award. She is the recipient of the Institute of Jamaica’s Centenary and Bronze Musgrave Medals, the Vic Reid Award for Children’s Writing, and the Burla Award. Pamela lives in Kitchener.

FIve Questions With Pamela Mordecai
http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com/2012/09/five-questions-with-pamela-mordecai.html

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 (From L-R: Andrene Bonner, Paul Campbell, Dr. Michael Wiltshire)

By  Faith P. Nelson

Playwright Andrene Bonner and veteran actor and director Paul Campbell are pulling from the annals of American history to celebrate Harlem’s massive contribution to the world with a Broadway-style  musical at Brooklyn’s Boys and Girls High School on June 14, 2015. Listening in on their discussions about plot, scene structure and production elements, one can’t help but imagine the process of discovery, the quiet excitement that would have permeated the literary salons of 1920s Harlem. 

Jumping forward half a century, Bonner and Campbell prompt some meditation on the power duo - legendary director choreographer Geoffrey Holder and one of his chief collaborators, actress and dancer Carmen de Lavallade. West Indians have long made permeable the cultural boundaries between the island nations and New York, the US’s most powerful and populous city. Following in the footsteps of Trinidadian Geoffrey Holder and his Broadway legacy, creative virtuosos Bonner and Campbell, fluent in the language of both cultures, have no problems crossing the divide to honor, on a grand scale the long gone Renaissance heroes.  

The idea for the project was the brainchild of Dr. Michael Wiltshire, executive principal of Boys and Girls High School and Medgar Evers College Prep in Brooklyn. He invited Bonner to come up with a concept to celebrate the Centenary of the Harlem Renaissance. The result was Ruby the Musical penned in a very short time by the novelist and high school teacher.

This June revival comes very soon after the initial one-day run in Spring 2015. Reviews of the earlier production were so encouraging that Wiltshire decided to hire Paul Campbell to bring a world view to the production. This go-round, Sweet Honey in the Rock alumna Tulani Kinard has teamed up with the playwright to create original music in the Jazz, Blues and African tradition. Fitting the rich contributions of this period of American history into 90 minutes is no small feat. When asked what her priorities were for the script, Bonner said that her approach was to “anchor Ruby in ancestral Africa where it all began and to cover the different vocabularies – visual art, music – that articulated the political perspective of the time. A proponent of education and women’s rights she intentionally built the lead character “to take agency of her own life as a young woman.”

Magical realism at its most entertaining and educational, the play follows Ruby from a freedom starved south to the lights of New York and artistic expression in Harlem. In one evening, the audience experiences with Ruby, the transforming narratives of Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, James Baldwin, W E B Dubois, Marcus Garvey and Ethel Waters among other figures.

Paul Campbell’s superior teaching skills are in evidence as he takes romantic leads Javia Richards and Hyven Charles and the rest of the 120-member cast through their paces in scene study and technical rehearsals in this ambitious production. Nothing escapes his attention whether costume improvement or the need for a quick huddle with choreographers Michael Forde and Wilhelmina Taylor.  Bonner gushes at the opportunity to continue to open her students to this level of creative production.

There is more to the night than the staging of Ruby the Musical. Like Geoffrey Holder before him, Paul Campbell is an accomplished visual artist. He picked up painting while at the Jamaica School of Drama and never abandoned his brushes. His large canvases are a blend of surrealism and cubism, a nod to modern African art and lush elegant Caribbean vernacular. Some of his work will be on display at the student and staff exhibition and reception which precedes the performance. Bonner herself, post the School of Drama and well paid acting jobs, collected more degrees in theatre arts and literature in California and New York. Her activities extend beyond the stage. When asked what she will do after the play, Bonner replied, “I will return to my other babies, my two fiction novels that are pining for attention during this production.” She further confided that both herself and Campbell have their own stage productions in development and plan to tackle other projects as a team. That collaboration is promising for theatre on New York soil.

The art reception and play launch on June 14, 2015 at Boys and Girls High School.

Faith Nelson is a freelance writer in Washington DC.


Andrene Bonner, Playwright
Photo Credit: Yvonne Taylor

Paul Campbell, Director
Photo Credit: Ray Balgrove

Dr. Michael Wiltshire
Photo Credit: Medgar Evers Preparatory Collection

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There has been an amplification in incidences of reported child sexual abuse in Jamaica. Lavern Deer, President, Jamaica International Female Football Development Inc. (JIFFD), Dr. Susan Davis, former Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board Representative for Southern USA, Dona-Lee Raymond, a concerned citizen, and other members of the Diaspora, have consequently joined forces with ‘EVE For Life’ (EVE) in Jamaica to take immediate action!.

“For the past 20 years, in Jamaica land we love, 20 per cent of girls and women consistently report that they have been forced to have sex. This means that ONE IN EVERY FIVE WOMEN IN JAMAICA has reported being raped or has had their bodies violated against their will as corroborated by the National Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys. 

In Jamaica, a total of 10,000 cases of child abuse were reported in 2013 alone, according to the Jamaican government statistics. 

In America, The American Medical Association also states that:
•    1 in 3 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.
•    1 in 5 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
•    There were 307 report FORCIBLE RAPES in Broward County in 2012 and 309 reported FORCIBLE RAPES from January to June 2013

To achieve successful outcomes both locally and internationally, the newly formed Diaspora task force will focus on mobilizing community support, fundraising, public relations, and legislature.

The "NUH GUH DEH" – Jamaica Campaign is administered by EVE and is supported
by United Nations (UN) agencies including UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS,
UNESCO, and UN Women.

The “NUH GUH DEH” – Diaspora Campaign is administered by a JIFFD local task force, has the endorsement of the Consul General of Jamaica to Miami and support from elected officials such as Miramar Mayor, Wayne Messam and his office.

“This issue of child sexual abuse is a worldwide problem, and one which affects local communities.  Of the thirty one Broward cities it is estimated that an average of two cases are reported per month, per city.  With this in mind I am prepared to support the NGD initiative as it addresses the problem locally and internationally”
~Mayor Messam, City of Miramar

CALL TO ACTION

On October 11, 2014, EVE for Life officially launched the “Nuh Guh Deh!” National Campaign to end sex with the girl child. It is their response in trying to curb the number of pregnant and HIV positive girls as young as thirteen years, who are referred to their programs. The overarching goal is to contribute to reducing the incidents of sexual abuse of the girl child in Jamaica.  By extension JIFFD has partnered with EVE to highlight the campaign and to encompass not just our young girls, but our young boys as well.

There is an array of legislation which should serve to protect our children from sexual abuse: the Sexual Offences Act, the Child Care and Protection Act, the Trafficking in Persons Act, the Child Pornography (Prevention) Act, among others. Jamaica also has a number of government organizations and systems to protect children against all forms of abuse, including the Office of the Children’s Registry, the Office of the Children’s Advocate, the Child Development Agency and the Ananda Alert.

To this end the NUH GUH DEH - Diaspora here in the USA will align its key outcomes to those of NUH GUH DEH - Jamaica, which includes bringing awareness and urging a zero tolerance approach to the abuse of children by:

1.    Increasing awareness about the long term physical, emotional, health, financial and social consequences of sexual abuse of young girls and boys
2.    Mobilizing Jamaicans to report acts of sexual violence against children
3.    Encouraging Jamaicans to use the phrase “Nuh Guh Deh!” to challenge current behaviors of men who sexually exploit children.
4.    Supporting the efforts of EVE and other similar agencies in Jamaica, and assisting local initiatives to empower young people and foster positive development.
5.     Helping to fund-raise so we can realize the key objectives outlined.

About EVE for Life (EVE)
EVE is a non-governmental organization in Jamaica, founded to support women and children infected and affected by HIV, but now additionally are undertaking the task of combating Child Abuse. Women and children are increasingly seeking psychosocial support and skills to help them to live normal lives. Eve for Life seeks to fill that gap.  
They were registered in February 2009 as a non- governmental organization (NGO) with charitable status.Their ‘Mission’ is to contribute to the Jamaica HIV response through innovative interventions that will prevent new infections and improve the quality of life of women and children living with or affected by HIV.

EVE for Life works with different national and international non-governmental organizations, civil society, governmental agencies and multilateral agencies
http://www.eveforlife.org/

About JIFFD

The Jamaica International Female Football Development, Inc. (JIFFD) is a 501c3 NPO and a US Federal Government SAM Vendor. JIFFD is dedicated to serve as a facilitator and conduit, for the holistic development of young females, in Jamaica and the international communities that impact same. The extended concept is to aggressively engage domestic and international stakeholders, to foster increased and consistent awareness of the systemic problems impeding such development, primarily in socio-economically challenging communities.

Their ‘Vision’ is to provide aggressive outreach, strategic collaboration amongst municipal, business and NGO stakeholders, and international partnerships, creating a holistic female development framework and program for girls ages 6 through 24, encompassing football training; educational support; health support; and social development. http://jiffd.org/

The Partnership

Both EVE and JIFFD under their purviews of interest and work with young girls in Jamaica, have now extended their portfolios to include: protecting children at large from the pervasive sexual abuse; and eroding the taboos associated with highlighting these offenses, which continue to be rife in our communities. Through the NUH GUH DEH Campaign we pledge to break these strongholds for the love of our girls and our boys.

www.nuhguhdeh.org

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